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Rolex 168000 and 16610 Submariner Date

Made by Rolex SA, mid- to late 1980s

Both references 168000 and 16610 appeared as if the same, round James Bond watch in Licence to Kill (1989). Each was worn on a model-associated 93150 Oyster bracelet with open end links, fitted to cases with open-hole lugs. The glossy black dials identified these as “Oyster Perpetual Date” models, with further descriptive text that read: “Submariner / 1000ft=300m / Superlative Chronometer / Officially Certified.” Luminescent material was tritium (as indicated by “Swiss–T<25” notation at 6 o’clock position), with all hour-markers appearing gated.

See link to “Exclusive Images,” below.

James Bond’s Watch

United Kingdom auction house Fellows cited “16610” as reference for the Submariner Date as part of its listing for another, EON Productions-verified, Licence to Kill wristwatch, in 2018 [1]. James Bond Watches has named it “most likely” among the period trio since early 2010 [2-3].

In July of 1988, concurrent with transition from pre-production moved into first day of shooting the movie [4], Authorized Dealers showcased all three different references as the then-current, apparently identical diver (to all but the most discriminating observer): The 16800, 168000, and 16610 [5]. Although there is some lack of official acknowledgment for the “triple-zero” [a], that reference, and not its 16800 precursor, was the only Date model to appear in addition to the 16610 on-screen.

The exact number of pieces acquired for production (and, for that matter, that appeared in the movie itself) is not known. Neither is any source of acquisition. However, at least one issue for one of the two references was a personal wristwatch owned by actor Timothy Dalton [7]; others was purchased for Licence to Kill by EON Productions.

As Seen in the Movie

Worn on-screen by Timothy Dalton as Agent 007 in one EON Productions motion picture, License to Kill, 1989.

Development / Technical / Retail

Rolex introduced its reference 16800 in 1979, and produced 81,964 [8]; it was powered by mechanical caliber 3035 [9]. Up through the mid-1980s, dials had unadorned, “‘circular’ indexes.” These were superseded by “bicchierini” or “gated” indices, meaning luminous material within a white-gold surround [10].

Unofficially, the 168000 picked up from the 16800 with gated hour markers on a matt dial, labeled as “Mark I” by Franca E Guido Mondani and Lele Ravagnani [11]. While noting that “the reference 168000 does not appear in any official document” [b] (yet was clearly inscribed on cases between the 12 o’clock lugs), they posited belief that the “experimental” number differentiated a material change, from 316L- to 904L-grade stainless steel [13-15]. The James Bond watch had a “Mark II” dial [16], which was gloss black.

Officially, then, reference 16610 was next in succession, with 646,613 watches produced from 1986 to 2010 [17]; it was powered by mechanical caliber 3135 [18-19]. Only its iteration with “Mark I” was a James Bond watch [c] [21].

Scrutiny

A Rolex reference 16610 Submariner was displayed as a model featured in Licence to Kill as part of a dedicated James Bond watches showcase in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during the 64th National Convention of the National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors, June 11 through 13, 2019 [22-23]. The following year, it was a featured part of the “Bond Watches, James Bond Watches” exhibition at the Museum of Time [24], June 18, 2010, through April 30, 2011.

Then from December 19, 2013, through May 24, 2015, a screen-correct 168000 was part of the inaugural display within the first-ever dedicated “Wristwatch Gallery” at the National Watch & Clock Museum (in at feature “By the Books, with Two Original James Bond Watches”).

Insights

If the latter half of the 1960s marked for Rolex the pivot to parity between its tool and business channels (with Submariner at center [25]), its recognition as high-end luxury was established in concurrence with Licence to Kill, two decades later. Thomas Van Straaten has argued in Fratello that “the Quartz Crisis [26-27] forced Swiss high-end brands to reposition themselves,” then dialed that back to write that there “is no single moment that we [read, “I”] can point to ….” [28].

I’ll simply take his agreement on timing, more or less.

In 1988, the gated lume-plot Submariner Date finally fulfilled the Live and Let Die (1954) specifications from Ian Fleming for a James Bond watch as appropriate for both “moments of great luxury in the life of a secret agent” and support of an underwater approach to mine the Secatur in one wristwatch. Then some thirty-five years later, “luxury” was depicted in the extreme, as 007 wore his Rolex sports diver appropriately with morning attire [29], and on throughout multiple challenging undersea, water skiing, and Kenworth-riding mission challenges with aplomb.

In “the real world” (and, more to the point, the production of feature films), sequences are lensed outside of chronological order, appearances of “wear and tear” must be scene and timeline appropriate, and pieces are subject to the risk of having been handled by myriad crew members and talent. Having a dozen issues of “the” watch for a motion picture would not be uncommon [30-31]. Actor Daniel Craig has said that three wristwatches appeared as the James Bond watch for the Madagascar parkour pursuit in his Casino Royale (2006) [32].

While I personally believe that the question of two different references is explained by the appearance of a Timothy Dalton Rolex later supplemented by production purchases (per need), I think it could just as easily have been a more straightforward matter of three different references for the same model having been presented in Authorized Dealer showcases at the time.

Almost any assertion that the Licence to Kill wristwatch could only have been one of the aforementioned two references and not the other has been effectively negated by the letter from EON Productions Archivist Meg Simmonds that documented a meters-first, non-reference, non-bicchierini 5513 [33] as having stood-in for the Rolex diver with date complication.

Additionally, given the position that 168000 was fundamentally a 16800, any reference 16800 that meets the criteria for the Licence to Kill James Bond watch set forth above would be legitimately considered a James Bond watch here.

Notes

  1. With the advent of the “Rolex Certified Pre-Owned” (“RCPO Programme“) [6], two participating Authorized Dealers in the midwest confirmed to James Bond Watches that they would recognize pieces with reference 168000 case markings as authentic. A third, when asked if “168000” case markings would be “corrected” or otherwise “altered” through Programme handling stated without equivocation, “Oh, no. We would never do anything like that.”
  2. Presumably, then, 168000 production numbers were included among above-referenced reporting of the 81,964 total for 16800 references. The entire run for reference 168000, spanned approximately one year, circa 1987 to 1988 [12].
  3. Rolex Submariner Date 16610 “Mark II” dials and after featured “Superluminova” on hour-markers, hands, and bezel, starting in the late 1990s. The open-hole lugs disappeared in 2003 [20].

James Bond Watches Blog™

— Dell Deaton
Updated: January 14, 2025
October 13, 2006

off-site

Exclusive Images

References

  1. “Licence to Kill” / September 20, 2018 / Fellows (accessed December 31, 2023).
  2. “Era ends for James Bond Rolex Submariner wristwatch” / March 23, 2010 / Dell Deaton / James Bond Watches (blog) (via Internet Archive, accessed January 4, 2024).
  3. “James Bond Watches: ‘The List’ of EON Productions Movie Wristwatches” / May 7, 2010 / Watches— James Bond Watches (via Internet Archive, accessed January 4, 2024).
  4. For My Eyes Only / 2001 / John Glen (page 196; Brassey’s: Washington, DC).
  5. Rolex Submariner Story / 2009 / Franca E Guido Mondani and Lele Ravagnani (pages 108-110, 112, 114, 116, 118-119, 122-123, and 125; Guido Mondani Editore: Genova, Italy).
  6. “RCPO Programme: Rolex Certified Pre-Owned” / Rolex (accessed January 7, 2025).
  7. For My Eyes Only.
  8. Oyster Perpetual Submariner: The Watch that Unlocked the Deep / 2024 / Nicholas Folks (page 238; Rolex: Geneva, Switzerland).
  9. “Rolex caliber 3035” / WatchBase (accessed January 5, 2025).
  10. Rolex Submariner Story (pages 108-115).
  11. __ (page 116).
  12. __ (page 119).
  13. “The Battle of the Steels: 316L vs 904L” / March 13, 2023 / The Moore You Know (via YouTube, accessed March 18, 2024).
  14. “316L vs 904L Stainless Steel: What’s the Difference?” / May 27, 2021 / Filtersafe (accessed March 18, 2024).
  15. “Until Now, Only Rolex Regularly Used This Type of Stainless Steel” / August 21, 2019 / Zen Love / Gear Patrol (accessed March 18, 2024).
  16. Rolex Submariner Story (page 118)
  17. Oyster Perpetual Submariner (pages 238-239).
  18. “Rolex caliber 3135” / WatchBase.
  19. “Rolex Caliber 3035 vs 3135” / Caliber Corner (accessed January 5, 2025).
  20. Rolex Submariner Story (pages 128-129).
  21. __ (page 122).
  22. National Association of Watch & Clock Collectors (NAWCC) (accessed January 5, 2025).
  23. “Watch, clock collectors spend some time meeting in Grand Rapids” / June 11, 2009 / Lance Wynn / The Grand Rapids Press (via mLive, accessed January 22, 2024).
  24. National Watch & Clock Museum (accessed January 6, 2024).
  25. “We invented the Submariner to work perfectly 660 fee under the sea” / May 1966 / Rolex (advertisement) / Playboy (page 223; HMH Publishing: Chicago).
  26. “Debunking the Quartz Crisis” / July 2022 / Stephen Foskett / europa star (accessed April 29, 2024).
  27. “The Quartz Crisis: The (Almost) End of the Watch Industry” / June 14, 2022 / Sideprojects (via YouTube, accessed February 4, 2024).
  28. “When Did Rolex Become A Luxury Brand? Or Has It Always Been One?” / September 30, 2022 / Thomas Van Straaten / Fratello (accessed January 6, 2025).
  29. “Morning Wear Guide” /December 10, 2018 / Gentleman’s Gazette (accessed February 4, 2024).
  30. “Watches And Hollywood: A Prop Master Talks Interstellar, Westworld, And Watches In The Movies” / August 6, 2020 / Danny Milton / Hodinkee (accessed May 13, 2024).
  31. “About Wind Vintage: Eric Wind” / Wind Vintage (accessed May 13, 2024).
  32. “Casino Royale | Mollaka Chase” / April 26, 2020 / James Bond 007 (via YouTube, accessed January 7, 2025).
  33. Rolex Submariner Story (page 65).

© 2026 – 2005 Dell Deaton, All Rights Reserved. USA

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